JoJo

Sun in the day

Sun in the day would have been a more accurate title.

I did like this drama. The story was captivating but the storytelling was dreadful.
The constant back and forth between the past and present could have been done better, this way it feels like we're watching the same scenes over and over again. There isn't anything new to show when you have to watch the same scene, sometimes from various angles or in different lengths. That wasn't good storytelling.

The Kdrama industry could stop adapting webtoons without fundamentally changing them. They're different medias, what works in a webtoon doesn't work in a kdrama. It's not really an adaptation when you don't ADAPT it to the media as well. Webtoons aren't storyboards, or they shouldn't be. This isn't a problem with this drama alone. From a decade watching kdramas, this is my diagnosis. Please, fix it!

It's a very interesting story but I feel like it just scratched the surface.
The characters are interesting but a bit unaware of their circumstances, even when they're entirely known to them and to us. This way, we get a warrior who doesn't face the fact he was a killing machine at the will and profit of his father, only to continue the killing to protect his love, sending that same love over a cliff for that same reason.

I would have loved to watch this story if done with more courage and less loose ends and that's the reason for my high score. It's a story that makes you think about their motivations and decisions. It's too bad the writers didn't make the characters think as much about that as well.

It's also sad that a story about such courageous characters could be so mild in its storytelling. If they filmed all the blood and swords so why didn't they show it? The story lost a lot of strength due to the age restriction. I don't understand why they decided to have such an explicitly violent drama toned down like this. It's not that I like gore but it did reduce the impact of the story and the strength of the characters.

The past and present personas are obviously different. The past characters are more interesting than the present ones. Capitalism has done a number on us, we're viewed as vapid and shallow. The firefighter stereotype is what bothers me the most. Firefighters are some of the most messed up people in the world, you have to be to be able to deal with so much trauma and pain. A delicate flower like FL doesn't seem to have what it takes to be one. She's not as complex as her past self and she keeps on saying phrases from the past that don't have the same meaning in the present. Them falling in love doesn't make much sense under that perspective. Her value for life comes from her profession and not from the connection she has to ML.

A lot of the solutions and clues are all there, everyone can see them. The characters can see them and we can see them. The characters not being able to put 2+2 means that they're daft or that the writers think the audience is daft.
For 1500 and 18 reincarnations the ghost never found it odd that FL died very single time before her 30th birthday? He had to be a good strategist to be such a good warrior, so that also doesn't make sense. In FL's dream, the father explicitly puts a curse on her and she still doesn't realise the source of it all. I would have liked it if they went deeper into what went wrong in their life together and how the father is the source of their misfortune. It's not that he didn't kill the father (though that solved it), it's not that she didn't trust they could have a life together after so much killing, it's not that she didn't love him enough. He lived his whole life for his father and then he lived his life for her. He didn't develop a sense of self and couldn't even do it as a ghost since his reason for existing was to protect her. She lived to die at the hands of a vindictive father that was angry at the person who stopped his plans and his life. Her purpose was to take the place of the ML in the father's sadistic quest. It makes sense that such a self-serving person would hold a grudge about that. To break the cycle, they had to end the source of the curse. It just feels a bit lacking. It could have been more to it.

The ending doesn't make sense. There's too much inconsistency to what happens to ghosts in human bodies. It doesn't make sense that Han Jun Oh came back and the CEO didn't. They had said that his soul had passed and that's why the ghost was able to possess the body and that makes sense. It can also make sense that the ghost has access to a lot of the memories because they are stored in the body. It doesn't make sense that Han Jun Oh comes back and the health problem that didn't have a solution suddenly has one. He wasn't there anymore, we saw that when the ghost's spirit was ejected by that yellow talisman the monk placed on his chest. The ghost was out of the body and there was no pulse, Jun Oh was not there anymore. He shouldn't have come back. It would have been devastating to see the face and shell of the man you loved everywhere, over a lifetime. A constant reminder of the love you couldn't live. I'm glad they could meet in another life. That part was a good ending.

I could talk about all these inconsistencies all night but I'll end it here. It was an interesting story anyway and I enjoyed the time I spent watching most of it.

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No Starch

I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that this was written by the same person who wrote Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung, one of my most favourite Kdramas. It's true, people are entitled to try to write something light and unserious, however, there's no excuse for writing nonsense. I honestly thought I was watching a webtoon adaptation the whole time, I just checked who the writer was after I finished.

The main issue for me is the "webtooness". The reactions are too frequently over the top, which makes it seem insincere instead of funny or light. If you're going for light, you can't take serious issues and treat them as if they're a discussion about favourite colours. The storytelling seems lazy, things seem to miraculously succeed one another out of the blue, in some sort of magic trick. "uh, we need more potatoes and are now looking for all we can have so we can put the leads together now that they're mad at each other. Uhh the youngest team member is an agricultural silver spoon, so he'll magically solve the issue that isn't needed anymore to make the leads solve a life destroying issue with two words and a sorry".

If they were aiming for something light, they shouldn't have brought up heavy or complex subjects that they didn't intend to respect. There are many examples of this, starting with the elephant in the room, FL forgiving everyone who betrayed her and fucked up her life without a single reason to do so. There's no drive for forgiveness to be granted other than mild regret and tears. A LOT OF TEARS.

She was betrayed by her boyfriend, not only that, he was planning a wedding with another woman while still dating her. She was bullied and lost her job because of that. The person who had NOT ONLY gotten her fired, also had gotten her bullied and discredited was, again, firing her and calling her incompetent.
Her best friend and basically twin, the person who was almost her extension, knew her boyfriend was not only betraying her but planning a whole wedding behind her back was incapable of letting her BEST FRIEND know because then she would be the one to blame for their break up?!?!?!?! WHAT SENSE DOES THAT MAKE?!?! They're presented as soulmates and she was afraid of a mild rage for telling the truth and getting her friend out of a fucked up situation? It doesn't make any sense. That's not lightness, that's lazy writing and stupid. She wasn't an acquaintance, she was her soulmate, she would be the first person to have her back, how could she not have her back in such an important situation? That's a level of betrayal that shouldn't be overlooked. And she only came clean 6 years after! That could ruin a relationship or at least warrant more than some tears and mild regret followed by instant reassurance.

On the same line, you can't say a person who was abandoned and became and orphan at an age that they remember that they don't know what it's like to lose someone. They're the epitome of loss. He had a mother who abandoned him at a train station. He though they would come back for him but they didn't. He lost a whole family and became an orphan. He knows what it's like to lose someone. Even if you don't have a parent, you learn early in life what it feels like to be lacking something everyone else seems to have. Once you're in contact with the world, the world will make sure you're lacking and there will be a hole there that will never be filled. He knows loss.

You can make a drama light but you have to make it make sense. Please!

The main reason I'm making this review is the propaganda. The potato famine was a deliberate strategy by the UK government towards Ireland with genocide as the intent. It wasn't a famine, it was a genocide. On Wikipedia we can read "Large amounts of food were exported from Ireland during the famine and the refusal of London to bar such exports, as had been done on previous occasions, was an immediate and continuing source of controversy, contributing to anti-British sentiment and the campaign for independence. Additionally, the famine indirectly resulted in tens of thousands of households being evicted, exacerbated by a provision forbidding access to workhouse aid while in possession of more than one-quarter acre of land." It wasn't because of a potato infection, it was due to policies that deliberately removed other sources of food from the Irish because, according to the British, they lacked moral character. That is genocide and not famine. The same way they called what happened in Ireland a famine, they're now calling what's happening in Gaza a famine too. It's the same strategy and we can't keep repeating the same propaganda and the same mistakes if we want a just world.

I know this is supposed to be a light drama but don't mention or pick heavy subjects if you want to keep it light.

I'll still be looking forward to this writer's next drama, anyway.

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I don't know

It took me a long time to finish this. The episodes aren't long but they're also not engaging.
The story is full of holes and nonsensical at times and the storytelling is sloppy. I didn't dislike the acting but it's also nothing special. ML was his usual self. FL was very stoic. I'm getting the feeling they don't hire real people to act, they seem to all have to fall into these standards that make them seem plastic or unreal. I guess we can blame Asian beauty standards for that. They're destroying people's uniqueness and beauty.

The last scene makes absolutely no sense and seems like it was made by a 10 yo obsessed with getting married and being a wife.
THEY WERE ALREADY MARRIED!!!

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Colouring oppression pink doesn't make it go away

I'm just going to make a review because this drama was sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, so this is a political message (even more than all other art that isn't directly sponsored by branches of government) that needs to be dissected so we understand where we're at and what's happening and what we can do with the information we're provided.

Branding and marketing are tools of capitalism to convince us to buy shit we don't need and clean the image of very dodgy people and businesses. So branding is about manipulating the truth and straight out lying and that's what they did with this drama to sell us South Korea as a place with wholesome business and work practices.

The South Korean president is a conservative right wing politician who has worsened the labour conditions for Koreans and foreigners working in South Korea. Companies are places of work, they're not families or kind and friendly. Selling that image tricks workers into thinking they're more than just numbers in a spreadsheet. Currently, they have a 52-hour workweek and the government wanted to increase it to 69 hours just last year. This year, they loosened the labour laws which has already resulted in the death of several workers, korean and foreign. Just last week there were news of a 19 year old who died on the job in South Korea. You can't sell bosses and CEO's as friendly and close to their workers when this is the reality of your work culture in your country.

Working hard in this economy is not a moral trait, it says nothing about your character. It's very much representative of our collective exploitation as members of the working class. Trusting companies is a fallacy. There's no such thing as an ethical billionaire, as there is no such thing as ethical major companies. Companies will do what benefits their profits the most.
Our ethical marketer, in the form of the FL, pushed the idea that cooperation with big companies is a way of helping small businesses. That's not what happens in the real world. In the real world, big companies buy small companies off and profit from their labour, turning the market into an oligopoly where eventually they are able to control the market and, in the long run, the consumers because competition no longer exists in oligopolies. That's what was going to happen with the candle business and that is what would happen with the motor business. They marketed charity as a way to clean one's image and that's what charity ultimately does, it doesn't change anything and it offers temporary patches to issues that require structural solutions to have any kind of impact.

It's the same with representation. I'm glad there was a lot of representation and there was an effort to show the drama as inclusive and progressive. That could have been great because we should be portraying the world we ultimately want to create. It's not so great when you pair representation with a push to abide by conformity, like changing the image of the sex toy shop CEO. You can't break taboos and non-conformity by conforming.

Representation that isn't free isn't representation and charity isn't social justice.
This is the main message I want to leave here after having watched this drama because I feel it's important to remove the rose coloured glasses to have a sense of what they're really selling us.

This is a worldwide trend of softening the image of the entities that oppress us, we see that with companies that pretend to treat us like family by providing company dinners but refusing to pay livable wages and with yt women occupying the leadership of fascist parties. That's not justice or liberation, it's branding.

About the story:
It was a fun drama. It had good pace and good acting. It was a bit theatrical in some representations but I can live with that, it was fun anyway. I'm a bit disappointed they chose a basic villain with not much of a story except a thirst for power in the form of a higher place in a company, it's not even to own the company. It seems like a very basic and low stake motivation.

I liked the representation and the not shying away from talking about taboo themes, even considering what I said before. Most of the characters were unlikable and I still have doubts about the redemption of some of them but they were fun, nonetheless.
I don't know how the mains fixed their relationship, it wasn't a topic that could have been glossed over very easily. I'm deciding not to analyse that. I've already over analysed the premise of the drama. Anyway, go watch it, it's fun but don't let yourself be fooled by propaganda.

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A hit and a few misses

"Choi Yoo Jin was once an innocent girl too, wasn't she? And it's only after girls grow up, they become witches."

The moment women don't allow to be messed with, they become witches. A powerful woman they can't touch is a witch.
Once you manage to see the patterns it becomes clear, they prefer snow whites because they usually prey on their innocence and lack of experience. Women are pawns that become evil once they can no longer be played with.
This is not a fairytale, it's like real life, only we're told witches are evil, we accept that men are necessarily evil but that's a good thing because it means they're strong, and at the same time, every woman should strive to be snow white. They forget the witches are, many times, a consequence of their doings, once the snow whites learn how to fend for themselves.

Instead of having a snow white, however, we got a child (which maybe isn't very far off from who snow white really is). I understand that she was sheltered in a convent but she still got her development as a person as we all do growing up. The innocence they thought they were portraying turned into nothing. She barely was a character, she could have been a pen drive with sensitive information and the story could have been the same.

There was no story between the leads, there was no chemistry, there was no sense, there was no spark, there was nothing. I don't believe it's due to Yoona's acting skills, I believe it was a direction and writing decision.

They tried to find parallels between them but we don't necessarily fall in love with people who share our story or our quirks, there has to be something there other than that, like seeing the person for who they are. Go Anna didn't know anything about the K2, how can you love someone you don't know? Do you love the shell or do you love the person?
In that same line, Go Anna was just a substitute for the love the K2 failed to protect. He wouldn't let it happen this time. That's also not love.

Now, if we're talking about the real lead of this whole story, she did a great job! Song Yoon Ah was fantastic and Choi Yoo Jin was a complex character that deserved a better ending. Everyone seems to agree that there was chemistry between the K2 and Yoo Jin and that would have made this story into a 10. Fairytales should be put to rest. We need stories of strong, complex women we can relate to. She seemed like the evil witch yet she was so much more, a true Queen!

It would also have been extra interesting to see a relationship between Choi Yoo Jin and secretary Kim. They had great chemistry and the whole time I thought there should be something more in that story. Also the actress who played secretary Kim is absolutely amazing, she should be given so much more credit than she does.

To sum it up, it was a great drama in terms of action and mystery, it would have been better if they left out the romance part. It was definitely not a romance drama. The fight scenes were fantastic and the political plot was engaging. The music should have stayed in 2010, in a drama like the Secret Garden, where it belonged.

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True BS

OK, now I'm angry!
Utilising the memory of the Holocaust to justify vanity, pettiness and revenge is simply inconceivable. This is especially gross now that we're witnessing another holocaust, and constantly see men, women and children starved to death with no access to anything, not even rainwater. I know this was written before what we're witnessing in Palestine, but it still wouldn't sit well with me before, anyway.
I can't even finish this drama now. I already had my doubts this was going somewhere once Trump was cited as a "successful businessman" (the man is a fascist war criminal, as are most US presidents), but this usage of a Holocaust reality is beyond tone-deaf. She's comparing basic hygiene and dignity in an oppressive situation to dolling up to get a man so she gets revenge or doesn't stay single, as if being single is worse than being a victim of genocide.
Equating being single to something you need to survive as if a holocaust is ignorant, ridiculous and infuriating. I thought that at some point the story would turn around and show some sort of redemption but that's just how the writer and everyone involved in this drama see people. After this, there's no possible redemption. I'm trying very hard not to insult anyone right now. I know the team has apologised for the insensitive use of the holocaust but I don't accept the apology. The rest of the drama I've watched so far tells me it's not an incident, it's a default. I don't think I have rated a drama so low but this is just how angry I am.

I don't see love anywhere in this drama. I see grift, ridiculousness, over-the-top unnecessary drama and a whole lot of cringe. They even go as far as simulating a suicide as if it's some kind of joke! ffs
She never loved her boyfriend, she wanted a marriage, a status and she was manipulating her way into it and teaching everyone around her how to manipulate their relationships. She did see through people who had no connection to her but was incapable of minor self-reflection. That being said, it's not her fault that her boyfriend cheated on her and remained in a relationship he no longer wanted. Her whole grift isn't about love, it's about fulfilling an image inside a box society carves for women at the expense of their own self.
Everyone here seems to be an a-hole and they don't learn from their mistakes.

Bora's actions after the break-up are completely out of character and make no sense as a 30 yo with a solid career. Making her go through this drama and destroy her whole career, image and finances to justify working for people who have badmouthed her is basic. All because of an a-hole she didn't even love and who cheated on her?! The worst part is that she doesn't even learn anything from her mistakes and doubles down on the bad takes, manipulation and petty drama. The ML has seen her at her worst and helped her, he picked her up when she made a fool of herself in front of her ex. Why should she be ashamed of peeing on the street, when he didn't even see her do it, to the point of refusing to meet him, talk to him and even faking an illness? It makes absolutely no sense.

Instead of learning from that, she then doubles down when it comes to the kiss. It's so pathetic that it gets too uncomfortable to watch. The kiss had no chemistry. It looked like it was made to make the FL look like a beautiful statue more than anything.

The other relationships portrayed are no better. Her friend finds out her husband doesn't see her as a woman and doesn't even want to have sex with her and she accepts it as if it's normal. There's not even a level of companionship, they're roommates and that's it. That's not a marriage. They're not honest with each other, don't spend time alone, don't like each other's presence. It's as if she proposed because it's the next thing to do and he accepted because that's the way it is. If feel like someone made them get married and they didn't want to. It also plays the stereotype that married couples hate each other. Just get a fcking divorce and go be happy on your own!
She works, she should have her own money, even if she is married. Why does she have to make such a fuss about buying a bag? Why should she want to buy such an expensive bag? Bags aren't a form of investment, they're accessories and should be treated as such. I don't understand this type of consumerism. It makes no sense. Her husband has a "man cave" that is completely hidden from his wife. He's not even doing anything "illegal" there. He just wants to escape and be alone (meaning without her). Why are they even married? Because society says so? Because that's the path everyone has to take? Is it really? Is that really a life?

Her sister's relationship is no better. She's involved with a guy who only saw her once and is infatuated with her, saying he loves her when he doesn't even know her. Instead of trying to get to know her, he drills her with catchphrases and accepts all the bullying he gets from her. It's normal to be infatuated with someone, it's not normal to treat that as love. I know they're young but that's no excuse.

Insinuating a relationship between a man in his 40s or 50s and basically a baby! that girl is a baby! is so extremely problematic. She's not going to fix his commitment and communication issues. She's not the solution to a man baby. She should be living her life and meeting people who are in the same stage in life as she is and not putting herself in a relationship with such obvious power dynamics that won't work in her favour. Besides being as old as her father, he's her boss. No good thing can come from that relationship. Deciding to make her the pursuer in this relationship is also a choice since most women in their late teens and 20s are the ones who are typically approached by men in their 40s, 50s and beyond because they want someone whom they can control and won't demand accountability for their actions or lack thereof.

Anyway, I'm not watching any more of this. I'm not wasting my time on people who have nothing of importance to say. And it's not even fun. It's annoying and over-the-top cringe.
Of course, not every drama needs to cater to the same audience, but they need to abide by basic human decency and that means not demeaning important events and treating people as equal human beings. That's just basic.

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Choice is the keyword

Let me get this out of the way: the romance made no sense in this drama. I wasn't feeling it and it was unnecessary.

Yes, we see SanHa falling in love and remaining in love but there was never a clue about JuWon's feelings until after Sana confesses. She always saw him as a brother, they grew up as siblings or maybe as cousins, since they didn't live in the same house. A cousin is still family and family love is nothing like romantic love. It was brotherly love and it was a choice. A family of choice is still a family, blood is absolutely meaningless.

I enjoyed the drama because of the family theme. It's a theme that resonates with me because I too was brought up in an unconventional family. My family is and will always be my mother and my grandma. They raised me and protected me the best they could.
I found it strange that the men were the ones who stayed when statistically the women are the ones who tend to raise their children alone.

The one cultural difference I can't seem to get past has to do with family and with how bonds are broken with the children as if they're disposable once the adults' relationship ends. I see that a lot in Korean and Japanese dramas and movies and I know some people who dealt with that irl.

I don't understand how a parent leaves their children behind once they remarry and say they're not family anymore. I don't think I'll ever understand how a person can birth and/or raise a child and then abandon them just because they don't love their spouse anymore. A child is a commitment for life.

Anyway, the dynamics were interesting and infuriating at times. That mother really tested my patience.
The acting was OK and the production too. somehow, everything seemed a bit underwhelming but I still enjoyed it anyway.

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This drama is simply awful.
I should start by the promotional poster. A stethoscope on her head? Is this supposed to be funny or is it telling us she's an air head while he is the one using this instrument in a wrong way. I don't get it.

About the story:
She becomes a nurse because she has a crush on a guy she sees once.
A completely normal decision. /s

She becomes a nurse because he's a doctor (gender roles must remain the same /s)

She's inept and confesses to him the first time she sees him.
Because all women lack skill and can't do anything other than caring for babies and cooking and cleaning at home. The other skills have to be bullied in with intense training./s
He's the best doctor ever (because men are always skilled professionals /s) and a complete asshole who treats everyone (except his patients and small children) like garbage. Treats her even worse and bullies her to give up on nursing which turns out to be one of the many episodes of negging we'll probably see in this drama.
Oh yes, such a lovable guy /s.
A true love story.
A true misogynistic, domestic violence leading "love" story

I thought we had enough of these.
Why are we still making them in 2020?
We don't need to bring every manga to life.

Not even my admiration for Sato Takeru will make me watch this.

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